Monday 14 August
8pm

€20

glór

In this once-off event, specially convened for Fleadh 2017, Frankie Gavin pays tribute to the accordion players that influenced him greatly in his musical life – the legendary Joe Cooley, the recently passed away Joe Derrane, and the living legend Joe Burke.

In this unique concert, Frankie teams up with young Clarinbridge man Conor Connolly, himself a Cooley devotee who actually plays the very box played by Cooley himself. They will be accompanied on piano by Padraic O'Reilly. 

In 1986, Frankie Gavin and Paul Brock released one of the finest duet albums ever made; Ómós do Joe Cooley (Tribute to Joe Cooley). Frankie also recorded a wonderful duet album with the late Joe Derrane, entitled Ireland's Harvest, and he will revisit some of the finest sets from this great album.

Lastly, he will pay tribute to Joe Burke, the greatest living influence on accordion music today.  Fleadh 2017 is delighted to confirm that Joe will play a few selections with Frankie on the night in what is now a rare public performance from a living legend.

Coming from Clarinbridge in South Galway, Conor’s style of accordion playing comes from that of the rich accordion and fiddle traditions of this area particularly that of Joe Cooley, late of Peterswell. The music of accordion virtuosos Charlie Harris, Tony MacMahon and P.J Conlon is also discernible in his playing.    

He has performed at many of the Traditional Music festivals at home and abroad, most recently at the Tønder Folk Music Festival in Denmark, Scoil Samhradh Willie Clancy, Feakle International Music Festival, Cooley-Collins Traditional Music Festival amongst others. He was also the musician in residence for the ‘Tunes in the Church’ concert series which runs in Galway city for the summer of 2016. He has featured on broadcasts on TG4, RTÉ Radió na Gaeltachta and Clare FM.